Renting a residential property is a two-way street. The tenant agrees to pay rent and, in most cases, the landlord promises to maintain the property in good repair.

Commonly, when the landlord fails to keep the residential property in good repair, the worst thing that happens is that the tenant can break the lease and not be held responsible for a portion of the rent which would have otherwise been due under the lease. In extreme circumstances, however, the situation could get a lot worse for a defaulting landlord.

In Nexus Real Estate v. Erickson, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 427 (June 12), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently upheld a verdict for treble (triple) damages in favor of a tenant and against his landlord and the landlord's property manager stemming from a string of broken promises to promptly fix the issues plaguing the leased residential property.